Sunday, December 13, 2009

A Thousand Cranes

So if you read my blog, you probably saw me mention a little show I'm a part of here at BYU called A Thousand Cranes. You might've heard about it from me or someone else before, but I figured that I would take this opportunity to officially tell YOU about this show. I'll do this by answering some of the frequently asked questions I've already received.

Q: What is this show about?

A: A Thousand Cranes tells the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who was diagnosed with radiation sickness, years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This play is an adaptation of the children's novel Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes that is required reading in many elementary schools in Utah.

Q: Is this a BYU production?

A: Yes it is! This is my first mainstage production with BYU and I'm thrilled. BYU does two "Young Company" productions a year and this is one of them.

Q: What's a Young Company production?

A: Two of the nine productions this year are Young Company productions. Young Company productions are short plays written for children and families that play for two weeks at BYU and also go to various elementary schools throughout the state to perform and teach workshops.

Q: When and where can I see it?

A: A Thousand Cranes will play at BYU's Nelke Theater from February 2-13 at 7PM with 2PM and 4PM matinees on the 6th and the 13th. There are also performances at the Covey Center on Center Street in Provo on March 2nd & 3rd, a performance at the Orem Library on March 29th. The elementary school tour goes throughout the entire semester, ask me if you want details on that.

Q: Didn't you say you went to Topaz for this? And met with Chieko Okazaki? What's this about?

A: We have a partnership with the Topaz museum. Topaz is one of the many internment camps that Japanese-Americans were sent to during World War II. The Topaz museum was in possesion of 123,000 paper cranes (one to represent each Japanese-American sent to an internment camp) and has loaned them to us to use as a lobby display. Sister Okazaki came to learn about our production and also to help us string some of the cranes. Many students have volunteered to help us string them. We did also get to visit Topaz located west of Delta, Utah. That experience is worthy of a post in and of itself which I regret not doing now. You can read about all of this here: http://www.athousandcranes.net/